


Ben & Rey v Alien Spiders

by Bellacupcakes (Littlemistake)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben and Rey are cousins, Ben is 20, Its cannonverse for a 9 year old girl, Mild Crude Humor, Non-Graphic Violence, Rey is 9
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 09:50:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19765717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Littlemistake/pseuds/Bellacupcakes
Summary: Ben and Rey must protect the village from a nearby salt volcano from erupting. But why are the temperature sensors malfunctioning? And why won't the grown ups listen to them?





	1. Ben Solo has a boring job

**Author's Note:**

> This is a project between a mum and her nine year old daughter.
> 
> The daughter provided the illustrations and the creative director.
> 
> The mother did the writing and got bossed around in the best way.
> 
> Please be kind and we hope you like it.

It had been 999,999 years since the Salt Stone Volcano last erupted. 

****

Ben Solo had the job of Head Volcano Temperature Tester, just like his father Han Solo before him. It was a very important job that had been handed down from generation to generation, and Ben had taken over from his father only twelve months before. The Solo Family took the responsibility very seriously - well - _nearly_ all the Solo Family.

****

Ben might be a Solo in name, but sometimes he felt like anything but that - not that it meant that he felt that close to the Skywalker side of the family either. At twenty years old, Ben was part Temperature Tester and part Jedi - therefore he didn’t really feel like he belonged… anywhere.

****

Most of the time, Ben wished he could hang out like his friends Poe and Finn. They didn’t have responsibilities. They didn’t have a stupid boring job, measuring the stupid boring temperature of a stupid boring salt volcano. Poe and Finn got to do fun things like ride their bikes, swim in the river and watch awesome shows on the HoloNet.

****

Just recently though, the stupid boring volcano had started doing decidely non boring things. Like deep grumbling and rumbling, like it had a stomach ache. The temperature had started to spike too, sometimes getting so hot that Ben couldn’t even get to the sensors to take a reading.

****

It seemed to Ben that he was either going to be _bored_ to death, or _cooked_ to death by a sea of boiling salt.

****

Being the Head Volcano Temperature Tester was the _worst_ , Ben thought to himself.

****

The village elders whispered that the volcano erupted once every million years, which would go a long way to explaining the recent trouble. But the village leaders were not so sure. To them, moving the entire village based on a whisper was not very clever.

****

So, they decided that Ben should take double the number of temperature readings, which they ignored double the amount of times.

****

“The village has been here for thousands of years,” the village leaders would say.

****

“If we left, where would we go?” They would ask.

****

The only good thing about his job was Fluffy, his pet Varactyl. Fluffy was his best friend, as well as the only beast that could climb the tough terrain up the side of the volcano to the temperature sensors. His strong limbs ended in clever five-toed feet that gave an excellent grip on the rocky cliffs and peaks.

****

Fluffy had come to him as a young hatchling, wild and untamed. It had taken a long time for Fluffy to accept and trust Ben as his master, but Ben had been patient and gentle - with the firm manner such a creature needed. Not to mention a pocket full of treats.

****

It was time for Ben to get Fluffy ready for his morning trip to the volcano. Ben admired Fluffy’s beauty as he fixed his saddle. He had blue-green plumage and skin, and a magnificent beaked face and a long, powerful tail. When he first started training Fluffy, the beak and tail had been the bits to avoid - for the tail could whip around and leave a nasty bruise. His beak was also lightning quick, and would steal Ben’s sandwiches when he wasn’t looking, his legs galloping away at a pace that Ben’s human legs could not match.

****

Ben was very tall, but Fluffy still towered over him as he pulled the saddle underneath his chest. Fluffy rumbled a low growl of happiness in his throat to see his master. He nudged him gently with his beak, eager for a treat or a pat. 

****

“Soon, buddy, soon,” he laughed, as he pushed his long wavy hair from where it had fallen into his eyes. He had Fluffy’s favourite food, broccoli, stuffed into the pockets of his white Jedi robes. He was a good and loyal steed, but he knew better than to give up the treat before he had finished getting Fluffy ready for his journey.

****

Fluffy shared the stable with the handful of other varactyls owned by the local villagers. Generally, varactyls were well behaved animals that kept themselves clean and tidy. Ben’s soft brown eyes narrowed, however, as he looked across the stalls to the one varactyl that could be depended upon to make a mess.

****

_Muddy._

****

Muddy was sleeping as per usual, curled up in a ball like a gigantic pussy cat. Also, like usual, she was covered in mud, dust and something else that smelled like his father's old socks. She was the same beautiful colour as Fluffy, and just a slight bit smaller, but that was where the similarities ended. Where Fluffy was obedient and calm, Muddy was excitable and cheeky. 

****

Muddy seemed to sense Ben was looking at her in disgust, twisting her neck around to stare back. She gave a sharp trill, as she looked down her nose at him. Ben couldn’t speak varactyl, but of course Fluffy could. 

****

By the way the feathers stood up on the back of Fluffy’s head, Ben was pretty sure whatever Muddy had said, it was a rude word.

****

He stroked Fluffy’s back to calm him down. “There, there, boy. No broccoli for Muddy today. Just ignore that filthy creature,” he said softly.

****

“Muddy is NOT a filthy creature!” Came an indignant voice behind him.

****

Ben turned around to respond. “Muddy stinks, Rey. Did you let her play with Uncle Han’s old socks again?”

****

Rey huffed, she might only be nine years old compared to Ben’s twenty, but she wasn’t going to let him talk about her pet like that. She narrowed her hazel eyes at him, her freckled nose wrinkled in disgust at what her cousin had said.

****

She stomped past Ben and Fluffy, giving her cousin a glare. She walked over to Muddy and gave her a big hug.

****

“Don’t listen to that mean Ben. You smell lovely.” 

****

Muddy was clearly very pleased to see Rey. As soon as Rey had pulled Muddy in for a hug, Muddy had bowled Rey over, licking and butting Rey gently with her big dusty head. Muddy’s back legs also seemed to have a mind of their own, wiggling madly back and forth like a puppy dog, and her long tail banged loudly against the walls of the stall she was in. Rey laughed and did nothing to correct Muddy’s mischievous behaviour, as per usual.

****

In his opinion, nine was too young for the responsibilities of looking after a varactyl. But Uncle Luke and his father thought it was time, and Rey had certainly made her desire to have her own varactyl known. She had spent over a year begging both men for one, and on her ninth birthday had squealed and clapped her hands with delight when her father, Luke, and her Uncle Han had given Muddy to her as her present.

****

Ben had to admit though, Muddy loved Rey more than anything. So while Muddy might be cheeky and stinky, she was always happiest when with Rey, and they often were found curled up together in a warm place, fast asleep instead of doing their chores.

****

Ben rolled his eyes. “Well, are you going to play with Muddy all day, or are you coming with me?” He asked impatiently.

****

Rey stopped laughing and quickly got up off the ground. She was now covered in dust too, and bits of straw stuck out of her ponytail.

****

“Ok, ok. I’m coming,” she replied. She quickly ran over to grab Muddy’s saddle from its hook on the wall. Rey might be small compared to her pet, but she was easily able to clamber around Muddy to get it on. Muddy, for the most part, was well behaved, only giving the occasional lick or head butt.

****

While Ben was waiting, he gave Fluffy the broccoli from his pockets and a nice scratch behind the feathers on his neck.

****

Finally they were both ready, their varactyls saddled and their bags packed. 

****

“Have you packed your lightsaber?” He asked. He felt uneasy this morning, like there was something strange in the air. He wanted to make sure that they were fully prepared in case of anything unexpected.

****

His cousin might have only been nine, but she was more than capable of defending herself with her weapon, and he wanted her to be ready to help if he needed her.

****

“Of course I did,” she scoffed, quickly changing her attitude when Ben gave her a stern look.

****

“Where are we going first?” Rey asked curiously. Muddy was becoming impatient now too, she swayed her back, eager to go. Rey laughed, gripping the handle of the saddle tightly as she was bounced about. Muddy was always up for fun and adventure, and Rey was, too.

****

“We need to go up the north side of Salt Stone this morning,” he said. “One of the sensors has shut down. It’s in a tricky spot, so I am going to need your help. Dancing Darth Vader, Rey - are you finally ready to go?” He huffed. 

****

He wanted to get the job over and done with so he could hang out with Finn and Poe later down by the river. He figured that Rey would probably come to the river too, and while technically he should be annoyed that she would tag along, she was pretty good company. It made his boring job just that little bit easier.

****

Ben and Rey often went out to check the sensors together. In their wisdom, his ancestors had put them in some pretty odd places that Ben couldn’t get into because of his size. When he was Rey’s age he was able to accompany his father to do the testing, and was very useful because he was able to use the force to get into nooks and crannies that non sensitives could not. But now as a young man, he was big and broad and towered over his friends. Rey was small and nimble, so together they made the perfect team. Because she wasn't a Solo, she could never officially work as a Temperature Tester, which Ben thought was a real shame because she liked it much more than he did. She also knew as much about the volcano as did his father - in fact - maybe even more.

****

She gave a quick salute to show she understood. “Assistant Volcano Temperature Tester is ready for duty,” she said. Muddy also gave a quick grunt to indicate her agreement.

****

Rey then gave Ben a cheeky smile. “See you at the top!” she called out as Muddy galloped away.

****

“Hey!,” Ben yelled in surprise. “That’s not fair!” 

****

All he could hear in response was the sound of Rey’s laughter echoing down the alley that lead out to the main road of the village.

****

He gave Fluffy a nudge with his leg and they were off.

****

The path to the volcano was weedy and overgrown, long left neglected. Villagers rarely visited the area these days, because in addition to the rumbling and grumbling that came from under the ground, some days the air was, well… really really stinky. 

****

It was very strange, because in the past the forest around the bottom of the volcano had always been the best place to play. Ben remembered playing hide and seek and making tree forts with the other village children when he was around Rey’s age.

****

But over the years, villagers had come back talking about disgusting smells and strange rustling in the bushes near the volcano.They would then feel really sick and have to go to bed without any dinner - even if it was chips and nuggets.

****

The village elders had spoken in low whispers that the volcano was haunted by a scary, stinky ghost, and while the village leaders had scoffed at such a silly suggestion, they decided that perhaps it was best if the children didn’t visit the forest anymore.

****

Ben and Rey were now getting very close to the bottom of the volcano. Rey was still in the lead, having had a good head start, and also because she was much lighter than Ben. This meant that Muddy was easily able to jump over the rocks and boulders that Fluffy had to dodge around with Ben on his back. Both varactyls knew the way, having done it many times before.

****

Rey had been giggling the entire journey, delighted that was she was still winning the race. Ben was technically the better rider, and Fluffy was definitely better behaved than Muddy as far as varactyls went - which meant if she wanted to win the race she needed to resort to cheating. 

****

But Ben liked to win, too, and also had a few tricks up his sleeve.

****

He lifted one hand up from the saddle, sticking his fingers in his mouth to release a piercing whistle, then shouted “Muddy puddles!”

****

Muddy suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and looked around frantically for the muddy puddle Ben was talking about.

****

“No! MUDDY!” Rey yelled as she desperately tried to get control of her varactyl. 

****

Muddy was not called Muddy for nothing. 

****

“Leaping Lando Calrissian!” Rey shouted as Muddy spotted a gigantic muddy puddle in the middle of the path up to the volcano. Muddy gave a shrill sound of delight as the creature jumped into the mud with a huge splash, and Rey had to quickly jump off to prevent being squished. Muddy rolled onto her back, squelching and squirming with delight, getting even more filthy and disgusting than before.

****

Rey sat waist deep in the puddle, her arms crossed in anger and disgust.

****

“That’s not fair, Ben Solo!” she yelled. “I’m telling Uncle Han when I get home.”

****

Ben had Fluffy circle the edge of the puddle, chuckling at Rey’s discomfort.

****

“Then I will tell your dad that _you_ cheated. Pretty sure that Jedis aren't supposed to do that,” he retorted. “See _you_ at the top,” he said with a smirk as he gave Fluffy’s reins a small tug.

****

It was his laughter now that echoed through the forest as Fluffy sped away.

****

While the path on the way to the volcano cut through a lovely forest, the journey up the side of the volcano was far more treacherous and bare. Ben gripped the pommel of the saddle tighter as Fluffy began to scale the steep rocky cliffs up the side of the volcano. He wasn’t afraid of heights, and he knew that he could use the force to protect himself from injury; rather it was the story Rey would tell his friends if he fell that he was trying to avoid.

****

He could hear Rey whooping Muddy along behind him, so he urged Fluffy on faster. If she beat him this time he wouldn’t be able to live _that_ one down either.

****

The ground began to give way as Fluffy stumbled over a particularly loose pile of rocks, and Ben shouted in surprise. “Yodelling Yoda!” As his grip on the saddle pommel slipped, he suddenly fell backwards and started tumbling down the cliff. It took him a moment to regain his thoughts, and he quickly created a force bubble around himself to stop from falling down any further. The force bubble was full of the dust cloud he had created as he tumbled down the cliff, and it stung his eyes and made him cough as he breathed it in. 

****

He looked back up the cliff to see Fluffy looking down at him with a puzzled look on his face, giving a small call as if to say “What are you doing down there, Ben?”

****

Rey had caught up to him by then, stopping so she could check if Ben was alright. Her concern quickly turned to glee as she realised that he wasn’t hurt, only very embarrassed and very dusty.

****

“Last one at the top is a stinky sarlacc!” She yelled as Muddy easily scrambled up over the rocks and dirt.

****

Ben shot himself up and over to Fluffy with the force, bursting the bubble with a loud pop as he landed back on the saddle. 

****

“Go boy go!” He urged, but Fluffy was not having any of it, and much to Ben’s annoyance the Varactyl careful made his way up to the top of the volcano.

****

Rey was already hollering and cheering for her win, clearly very pleased with herself.

****

“I beat you Ben, even though you cheated!” She sang out. Muddy also looked very happy to have come first as well, giving a loud call to Fluffy. Fluffy snorted through his beak in response.

****

“It doesn’t mean anything,” Ben muttered. “I’m still the boss of you.”

****

The smile quickly fell from Rey’s face, she knew she had pushed her luck too far. 

****

“Ok Ben,” she said. “Let’s go then.” She climbed down from Muddy and gave her a pat. “Stay here girl, I won’t be long.” She soothed, Muddy never liked being away from Rey for very long.

****

Ben had also gotten down from Fluffy by this time too. He fished a stalk of broccoli from his pocket for Fluffy to chew on while Ben was gone.

****

Ben looked down into the mouth of the volcano, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the hot red salt lava in the middle. From all the steam coming from it, it looked like the salt lava was a bit hotter than yesterday. It swirled and churned as if being stirred by a giant with a gigantic wooden spoon. 

****

Maybe his job was going to go from boring, to dangerous, he thought.

****

“Stick close to me, Rey.” He said.

****

Rey was also peering down at the salt lava. She chewed her bottom lip with worry.

****

She nodded in agreement. The fact that she didn’t complain or argue with her cousin showed how scared she really was.

****

“It looks really bad Ben, like it might go crazy at any moment. I’ve been reading about...” 

****

Ben walked over and put his arm around her. “Hey, it’s going to be ok, kid. Let’s work fast so you can get back to the village and tell my friends that you beat me to the top.”

****

Rey gave Ben a smile at his joke, momentarily forgetting what she was talking about. “Yeah, Poe and Finn will laugh at you soooo hard.”

****

They both grabbed their backpacks that were hooked to their saddles and set off down the path around the mouth of the volcano. Rey stayed close to Ben as he had instructed. 

****

As they came up the door that led down into the caves and tunnels where the sensors were, Rey gulped nervously. 

****

Ben touched the door with the back of his hand to test how hot it was.

****

“It’s warm,” he told Rey, “but it’s not too bad.”

****

Ben pushed the door open, quickly putting up his hand to stop Rey from barrelling through. “Rey, stay behind me, like I said.”

****

Rey looked a bit put out, but seemed to think better of arguing with him about it.

****

As Ben stepped into the corridor, he noticed that the temperature was definitely hotter than last time - but there was something else different, too. There was a heaviness to the air, a sort of underlying sourness within the enclosed space of the tunnel that was quite unpleasant. The lights that threaded across the roof of the tunnel flickered and zapped, as if the electrical current powering them was being switched off and on again.

He reached around to his belt to feel for his lightsaber. Feeling the warm metal hum under his fingertips, it gave him comfort that if something did happen, at least he had his weapon to protect him and Rey. It was weird, because in the few months that Ben had been Head Temperature Tester, the only creature he had ever encountered down here was an angry Rey after she got stuck in a small tunnel trying to reach a sensor one time. Plus, if there was a salt lava eruption, it wasn’t like his weapon could protect them from it.

****

Rey interrupted his thoughts with a sharp prod in the middle of his back.

****

“Come on slowpoke,” she complained. “I thought we were supposed to be in a hurry.” 

****

Ben knew that Rey was only being bossy because she wanted to get into the volcano, but he didn’t like her tone all the same. 

****

Ben grunted and made his way down the dim corridor, the flickering lights casting eerie shadows on the wall. 

****

He was sure he heard a soft rustle coming from behind the wall. He came to a sudden stop, swiveling his head in the direction of the noise, causing Rey to bump him from behind.

****

“Hey!” she exclaimed in protest, rubbing her nose.

****

“Shhhhhh!,” Ben replied sharply. “Listen…”

****

They both stood still, waiting in anticipation for the sound to come again, but it didn’t.

****

“Ben, are you hearing ghosts again? Is Grandpa trying to contact us?” Rey teased.

****

“Be quiet,” Ben grumped. He started moving carefully down the corridor again. He wished he could ignite his lightsaber, but he had the feeling that Rey wouldn’t let him or his friends forget it if he did.

****

“Come on,” he muttered. “The sensor is down this way.”

****

As they headed deeper into the belly of the volcano, he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something else down there with them. Like there were hundreds of little eyes watching them as they made their way to the tunnel. 

****

They came into a big cavern with many tunnels leading from it in all different directions. Ben pointed to the roof

****

“The sensor is up there, behind that ledge. Think you can reach it?” He asked.

****

Rey craned her head in the direction he was pointing.

****

“That’s easy,” she scoffed. “Just because your sausage fingers are too big to reach in.”

****

With that, she flicked her fingers to create a force bubble around herself, levitating towards the roof of the cavern, and she corrected her course to float over the spot that Ben had pointed to.

****

“It's so hot up here,” she said. “There really is something wrong with this volcano, it’s too hot - we need to cool it down. I’ve been reading and...”

****

“How can you cool down a volcano? That’s impossible,” he said, perhaps too quickly. He was becoming impatient to fix the sensor and get out of there. He was becoming more uneasy by the minute, which tended to make him shorter with Rey than he would have liked. 

****

Behind him, he heard the same rustling sound from the tunnel earlier. He whipped around to see if he could locate the source, but there was nothing there.

****

“Well, I have this idea that if you take the…” Rey continued, as she tried to reach up where the sensor was.

****

Ben was starting to get really creeped out now, his fingers rested on the hilt of his saber in readiness.

****

“Rey….” he called out. “I think we need to get out of here…”

****

Rey grunted in return. “I can... almost reach it… oh!” She exclaimed in surprise. “It looks like something has… eaten the wires?”

****

Ben turned his attention from the dark tunnel to Rey up above him. He could make out the edge of her force bubble from behind the ledge “What?”

****

“It looks like.. some kind of creature has been trying to eat it,” Rey repeated.

****

“Just remove it from the wall and let’s get out of here!” Ben yelled. Between the rustling noise, and now the strange thing that had happened to the sensor, Ben knew something weird was going on. They needed to get back to the village right away to talk about it with his dad and Uncle Luke.

****

He could hear Rey working the sensor off from the cavern wall as it was in a very tricky spot. He was just about to force bubble himself up to the roof next to her, when he heard her shout out with victory after she finally was able to pry it off the wall.

****

She floated down to the ground again, and handed the sensor to Ben for him to inspect it.

****

He momentarily forgot how badly he wanted to get out of there, as he turned the sensor over and over in his hand. It was a white box with several red buttons that Ben would press to get temperature readings, with silver wires that came out the back that connected to the generator power supply. Rey was right when she said it looked as if an animal had been chewing at the wires, as they were all frayed and bitten. 

****

_But nothing lives down here_ , Ben thought. _Nothing can survive on salt, can it?_

****

Rey had been looking intently at the sensor too, when she suddenly clapped one hand across her face, while giving Ben a big whack on his arm with the other.

****

“Gross!” she cried out in disgust. “You farted!”

****

Ben was startled by her outburst, but a foul smell was suddenly going up his nostrils, too. It was like trash had been left out in the rain, rolled in mud, and then a rancor had come and taken a poop on it. 

****

“Did not!” he yelled. “Whoever smelt it, dealt it!”

****

“Everyone knows that whoever denied it supplied it!” She shot back.

****

“Well, if it wasn’t you.. and if it wasn’t me… then who was it?” Ben wondered worriedly.

****

Rey’s eyes got very big as she spun around in a circle.

****

“Do..do..do you think that it might be… them?” She stammered as she pointed around the cavern.

****

Ben looked at what she was pointing at, and quickly reached for his lightsaber. With a stamp of his foot, he ignited his weapon, the crackle of the blade echoing against the wall of the cavern. 

****

The green light from the saber illuminated the dark tunnels around them, and he realised that hundreds and hundreds of colourful spiders, each one about as big as his hand, were watching them. They were strangely beautiful, but frightening at the same time, each one a dazzling array of bright neon colours. Yellow and orange zig zagged across their bodies, from which blue, purple and pink striped legs were attached. They had green heads and looked like giant creepy candies - not that you would ever want to put one in your mouth. 

****

The strangest thing about these already strange creatures was their long pink and orange tails, like a scorpions. Ben squinted his eyes to look at their tails more closely, it was almost as if… green stink lines were rising from them. Ben wondered if that was the reason for the horrible smell.

****

“Get behind me, Rey,” he shouted in panic.

****

She backed up against him, her own saber at the ready, its blue light bouncing off the green radiating from Ben’s.

****

“What are we going to do,” she said fearfully.

****

“We are going to stab our way out of here!” He shouted, suddenly launching into a sprint. He lifted his saber over his head to strike at the nearest spider, but as he brought it down, to his shock it crashed into Rey’s, she had sped in front of him whipping around to defend the spiders from his attack.

****

The force from his blow sent her flying backwards, and the colourful spiders spread out to avoid being trampled on, like a stinky, rustling, colourful wave.

****

“Pickled Palpatine! What are you _doing_?” He said incredulously, moving his blade to the side where it wouldn't hurt her.

****

“No! You can’t hurt them!” She replied, regaining her balance. “They haven’t done anything to you or me! They are just smelly, colourful spiders.”

****

“Well, fine! Then how do you propose we get out of here, then?” He asked, swinging his blade around to protect from an attack from behind. The spiders moved away to avoid it, as if they were afraid of it.

****

“Look! The tunnel to the door is clear!” Rey pointed.

****

Ben saw that she was right, the tunnel that lead up to the outside world was blessedly clear of spiders. 

****

He didn’t need to be told twice, Ben pushed Rey forward into the tunnel. He turned to see what the spiders were doing - it was almost as if they were in attack formation, their scorpion tails poised to strike.

****

They stumbled as they ran, a green cloud of disgusting gas began to swirl around them. Rey began to cough and splutter. Ben grabbed onto her arm, pulling her with him. He put his hand across his nose as his eyes began to water. Another, stranger sensation began to take over him as well, like a stiffness spreading throughout his body. He propelled them faster, relieved as he could finally make out the sunlight framing the door that led to the outside.

****

Rey was slowing down considerably by now, her legs were not nearly as long as Ben’s, plus she hadn’t thought to cover her nose as the cloud had begun to overtake them.

****

Thinking quickly, he scooped her up and flung her over his shoulder. Rey squealed, pummelling at his back in frustration.

****

“Put me down!” She tried to shout, but her voice was getting hoarser by the moment.

****

Finally he reached the door, grabbing the handle to wrench it open. As they crashed through it, the sunlight burned their eyes, after having just come from the dark tunnel.

****

The fresh air was a welcome relief, but Ben knew they were not out of danger yet. The spiders could still come out and get them - and he wasn’t sure about what exactly the green gas was, but he was sure it was dangerous.

****

Ben dropped Rey back onto her feet, looking at her with concern. Her eyes were ringed in red and she was still coughing and spluttering.

****

“Rey, do you think you can make it back to Muddy?” He asked.

****

She nodded, still coughing and spluttering. Ben realised she wasn’t well at all, so he scooped her up to take them back to their varactyls. Ben constantly looked behind them to make sure they were not being followed.

****

They had to get back to the village - and fast.

  
  



	2. The Stinky Spiders Move in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben rushes Rey back to Luke to see what is wrong. The stinky spiders follow them and all the children in the village become ill. Can Ben save them and the village?

The two varactyls were sleeping side by side, and were very startled as Ben ran up with Rey in his arms.

****

Ben looked from Rey to Muddy with concern. She had passed out unconscious as he had run back up the path, so she was in no condition to ride Muddy back down to the village. Ben could tell that Rey was still breathing, thankfully, but he was still very concerned that she was really hurt.

****

He hoped Muddy would do as he asked.

****

Muddy was clearly distressed by the sight of Rey, too. She looked at Ben with accusing eyes, making a sharp barking noise to voice her displeasure, while stamping her feet.

****

“It wasn’t me! It was the stinky spiders!” Ben said defensively. 

****

Muddy looked at him skeptically.

****

“I’ll explain when we get back, there isn’t any time,” he said impatiently. “Muddy, for once, please do as I say and follow me back to the village.”

****

Muddy thought for a moment, looking at Rey, then back to him again. Ben hoped that the soft trill she made was her indication of agreement.

****

He carefully draped Rey over Fluffy, then mounted the varactyl, sandwiching her between the saddle pommel and himself so she wouldn’t fall. He gave Fluffy a quick tap with his foot, urging him to go.

****

“Come on Muddy, back to the village,” he called out as Fluffy began to make her way back down the side of the volcano to the village. He was very relieved when Muddy began to follow his lead, she stuck close, not wanting to be too far away from her sick master.

****

The journey back to the village seemed to go much faster this time, they whipped past the trees and boulders at breakneck speed. The thin sheen of sweat made Fluffy’s brilliant plumage stick to his neck, and Ben was grateful that Fluffy knew the way and was surefooted the entire time.

****

As they sped back into the village, Ben was aware of the stares the four of them were getting - but he didn’t care. He just wanted to get Rey back to Luke and his father, and to tell them about what happened up at the volcano.

****

Luke was outside his hut, doing his daily lightsaber practice when Ben and Fluffy skidded around the corner. Luke’s eyes widened in panic when he saw his young daughter unconscious on Fluffy’s back, and he quickly shut down his weapon and raced over.

****

The older Jedi was dressed in his traditional clothing, and his brown robe trailed behind him as he ran.

****

“Yodelling Yoda - what happened!” he said, checking Rey’s vital signs. Luke was relieved when he saw that Rey’s pulse was still strong and she was breathing.

****

Ben valiantly tried to regulate his breathing as he tried to explain.

****

“Stinky spiders…. With gas venom from their tails… in the volcano,” he gasped. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect her,” he added sadly. He felt terrible that she was hurt, not just because he was in charge of their operation and tasked with protecting her, but because she looked so small and frail. Her lips were an odd shade of green, and her skin was, too.

****

“Get her inside,” Luke said gruffly - the look on his face was similar to the one Muddy had on her face. Ben felt terrible enough already, he didn’t need Uncle Luke to be mad too. “Then take the varactyls back to the stables after I bring back Dr. Binks - and Han.”

****

Ben slid down from Fluffy and carefully pulled Rey from Fluffy’s back, then carried her into the hut she shared with her father. Once inside, Ben went straight to Rey’s room. Ben grimaced as he entered her room, he had to kick a path to her bed - Rey, like Muddy, was always very messy - and Ben didn’t want to trip and hurt either one of them. 

****

Rey’s room was a bright purple, and covered in toys, bits of machinery and pictures and diagrams of the Salt Stone Volcano. Ben grimaced, it would be terrible if the thing that she loved the most after Muddy was also the thing that ended her life.

****

C3PO had been in the kitchen making lunch when Ben had come into the house - by now he had quickly shuffled into the doorway. ‘Oh my! What is the matter with Mistress Rey?” He said, his voice filled with concern.

****

Ben didn’t bother to turn to look at the robot as he responded. “There were weird spiders in the volcano, and they attacked us and Rey got hurt - alright?” He was beginning to feel very defensive now, like everyone thought it was his fault that Rey was hurt.

****

He could hear talking in another part of the house, it looked as if Luke had returned with Dr. Jar Jar Binks, the village doctor. He also recognised the sound of his father’s voice, too.

****

The Gungan was really old by now, even older than Luke and Han (so seriously old), his skin was a dark mottled grey, and his eyes that were once a yellowed green were now watery and pale yellow. But, he was still the best doctor in the village, and Luke trusted him to take care of Rey.

****

“Messa see the patient now,” said Dr. Binks as he made his way into Rey’s room. Ben slunk back into the corner, trying to make himself small and inconspicuous. 

****

Dr. Binks took one look at Rey and shook his head. “Hata Hata, meser fraid da youngling bein berry berry sick. Metinks ganna a closer look.”

****

Dr. Binks began to undertake his assessment of Rey, to diagnose what her illness was. He looked very concerned as he checked her pulse and breathing. Dr. Binks seemed particularly worried as he inspected the colour of her lips and skin, muttering and tut tutting to himself.

****

Ben could feel the guilt rising in him the more concerned the Doctor appeared to be. He wanted to run and hide in the stables with Fluffy, but he also knew what he had seen was a vital part of working out what was wrong with Rey, and how they could fix her.

****

Finally, Dr. Binks turned to the others in the room. “Whata happensa to da girl?”

****

Luke and Han both turned to look at Ben, who could no longer contain his feelings any more.

****

“There were hundreds of spiders in the volcano that farted at us, and it was green and it smelt like a bantha den full of tauntaun puke, and I couldn’t save her and now she is dying!” Ben yelled at the doctor. He knew he had to get out of there and fast - he was sure to be in BIG trouble talking to the doctor like that.

****

He bolted out the door before anyone could respond to his outburst. “I’m taking Fluffy and Muddy back to the stables,” he shouted as he left the hut.

****

He winced as he heard Dr. Binks say, “How _wud_!” as the door slammed shut.

****

He was going to pay for that when he got back, but for now he was relieved he could just be with his beloved Fluffy and not have to deal with any adult disapproval.

****

____________

****

Back at the stables, Ben had removed the saddles from both varactyls, but had been unable to give Muddy the brush down she really needed. Muddy was far too skittish for Ben to do anything more than remove all the riding gear and give her a couple of broccoli stalks to help soothe her. Varactyls were always particularly attached to their masters, and could sense when they were sick or upset.

****

It also meant that Fluffy was very sensitive to how Ben was feeling as well, giving him several nudges with his beak as if to say “Why so sad?”

****

He was giving Fluffy a nice long brush when his father walked in. Ben stiffened in attention, bracing himself for the harsh words that were sure to come.

****

“Ben, can we talk?” Han said bluntly.

****

“Sure,” Ben muttered, unable to meet his father’s eyes.

****

“We understand you are upset, no one is blaming you for what happened to Rey. But running away like that, yelling at the Doctor, well that doesn’t help Rey at all - and she needs your help.”

****

Ben did his best to hold back his tears. “Is she going to be… alright?” He asked. He was afraid to hear the answer.

****

“She seems alright - for now. But she still hasn’t regained consciousness. What happened up there Ben - really?” His father responded.

****

“Dad, it’s exactly like I said. We went up to check a broken temperature sensor, Rey pulled it down… it had been chewed or something, then all of a sudden we were surrounded by all these spiders. But they were weird, with colourful tails that shot a horrible venomous cloud at us - that what’s made Rey sick. I tried to attack them, but Rey stopped me. I tried to get us out in time, but I failed…” The weight of his confession hung around him, and Fluffy gave him another soft nuzzle with his beak for comfort.

****

“I gotta tell ya son, it’s a hard story to believe. Luke thinks we should seek the advice of the village elders, I think we should handle this… Solo style.” Han gave his son a sly grin. Ben knew from the look on his father’s face - that meant blasters and blowing things up.

****

“I don’t know Dad - there really were hundreds of them. It might take a bit more than just the two of us to take them out.”

****

“We’ll see,” said Han with a wink. Ben groaned inwardly - his Dad meant to cause problems for him, for sure. 

****

Han continued, “Anyway, come back to the hut. Talk to your uncle, let’s work out together how we can help Rey.”

****

Ben nodded, gave Fluffy a pat and was about to head out the door when the ground suddenly began to shake and rumble beneath them. It was like the earth had become the ocean, rippling like small waves. Ben clutched at a wooden beam while Han fell over into a pile of hay.

****

Fluffy, Muddy and the other varactyls in the stable called out and reared up in fright. Ben stumbled over to Fluffy to try to pet and soothe him.

****

The rumbling eventually subsided, and father and son looked at each other in surprise and perhaps more than a little fear.

****

“Let’s go see Luke,” Han said grimly.

****

_______________

****

Luke was pacing the floor of the kitchen when they arrived back at the hut. He was deep in thought and worry.

****

C3PO fussed in the background, preparing damp cloths and other things that might help Rey, but probably wouldn’t.

****

Luke looked sharply at the pair of them.

****

“Thank you so kindly for returning, Ben. Now, can we please go see the Village Council?” He said impatiently. Ben nodded and the three of them set off together to speak to the council and try and get their help.

****

An hour later the trio returned, with Luke angrier than ever. 

****

“They wouldn’t even listen,” he said bitterly. “You did your best Ben, but they wouldn’t even hear you out. They were far more concerned about the volcano than helping us.” 

****

C3PO scuttled out of Rey’s room at the sound of Luke’s voice. “Master Luke, I’m so glad you returned. I’m afraid that Mistress Rey has taken a turn for the worse. Come quickly!”

****

It was worse than Ben had thought, Rey looked even greener now, plus there was a new, smellier development. Rey was now beginning to smell like a bantha den covered in tauntaun puke, too. Everyone but C3PO clamped their hands across their noses, dry retching from the smell.

****

“Smells worse than your bedroom, Ben,” coughed Han.

****

Suddenly, a piercing scream rang through the air. “My son, he’s green! And he stinks like Jabba the Hutt’s armpits!”

****

Luke and Han looked at each other and raced out to see for themselves. Ben was left staring at Rey, she looked so small and helpless. He might like to tell himself that she was just his annoying little cousin, but if he was really honest he liked her company, and felt terrible that she was so ill. He swore then and there that he was going to help her - to find a cure for the spider poison and bring her back to health again.

****

Somehow. But not Uncle Luke’s way, or his Dad’s way - but his own.

****

Soon more shrieks could be heard coming from all over the village.

****

“Bumbling Bala-Tik, my child! She is unconscious and smells like a Wookiee’s butt after the Wookiee got squished in a trash compactor!”

****

“Someone help! My son, he won’t wake up and he stinks like a Stormtrooper’s uniform after a vacation on Jakku!”

****

The little hairs on the back of Ben’s neck had already really started to prickle, but soon the hair on his head would be standing straight up in the air as screams started to arise throughout the entire village. 

****

Reluctantly, Ben tore himself away from Rey and ran out into the village - his worst fears were confirmed when he saw what the villagers were panicking about. The stinky colourful alien spiders where now everywhere, on roofs, on the road, inside houses - their tails poised to strike as they emitted green, stinky gas. There were so many of them that the green cloud now hung over the village, making his eyes water from the terrible, horrible smell.

It was like Muddy had rolled in a trough of Happabore water, then in a pile of trash, then farted and sat out in the sun for a while, still farting. It was disgusting.

****

Ben’s first reaction was to ignite his lightsaber and slice as many as he could into pieces, but then he remembered that Rey had protected the spiders back in the cavern when they first met them. So, now that it seemed that the spiders were hurting people - well - just kids really, he felt he should try to find a way to protect the village without hurting the spiders. 

****

He didn’t want to save Rey, only to have her be angry with him when she woke up. _If_ she woke up.

****

“Dad! Uncle Luke!” He shouted - remembering that they were somewhere in the village too, and Luke still had his lightsaber and if he knew his dad - well, Han would have his blaster on him too. He had to warn them before they hurt any spiders too.

****

His worst fears seemed to be coming true as he heard the sound of Han’s blaster coming from the village square. He sprinted towards the sound, yelling out to his father to stop as he went.

****

As he rounded the corner, he saw Uncle Luke and Han surrounded by a group of very angry, very stinky spiders. Han was shooting with his blaster, but the spiders were just too quick and easily dodged out of the way each time Han took aim and fired. Ben remembered how the spiders had also avoided his lightsaber strikes - just like they were doing with Uncle Luke. It occurred to Ben that the spiders were actually pretty smart, and good soldiers as they moved in perfect formation with the rest of the group.

****

“No! Stop!” Ben yelled as he force bubbled his way into the middle to join Luke and Han. He encased them into the force bubble as well to protect them while they worked out what to do.

****

“What are you doing?” Luke yelled back incredulously.

****

“We can’t hurt them - Rey would be really mad with us if we did!” Ben explained frantically. 

****

Han was equally shocked, “Well then, hot shot - what do you suggest?” Clearly this was not his version of handling things “Solo style.”

****

“We have to find a way to protect the villagers, and the spiders too. Take a look - they are smart, plus they aren’t being affected by the fart gas. So there has to be a cure or an antidote or something. If we find it we could fix all the children in the village - including Rey!”

****

Luke and Han looked at each other again, Luke looked quizzically at Han, while Han just shrugged, in typical Han fashion.

****

Ben took both reactions to mean agreement, so he lifted he three of them in the force bubble up over the crowd of spiders and high above the village square so they could assess what was going on.

****

The spiders quickly covered the space that the three of them had been standing in.

****

“Watch them, watch how they move,” Ben said. “It’s like they are in the army, they seem to be commanded or controlled by something else. They act organised - I could head back to the volcano to see who or what is organising them.” A plan was beginning to form in his mind. As much as he didn’t want to go up to the volcano, it was clear to him that his ability to use the force, as well as his knowledge of the volcano’s tunnels and caverns, meant that he really was the only person to do it.

****

“Uncle Luke, if you can gather up all the spiders in a force bubble and keep them there, I will get Fluffy and go up to the volcano right away.”

****

Ben was relieved when Luke nodded in agreement, and he set them all down on the ground and made the force bubble disappear with a wave of his hand.

****

Luke quickly created the biggest force bubble in the history of force bubbles, and held it high in one hand while using the other to use the force to scoop up all the spiders and put them into the bubble. The spiders didn’t like it one bit, and great plumes of green gas filled the bubble immediately - Ben imagined it smelt like a rathtar had eaten a bag of trash and then puked the trash back up again, and then a rancor had come and pooped on it.

****

Ben, seeing that his uncle had everything well under control, quickly headed for the stables to collect Fluffy and head back up to the top of the volcano.

****

_____________________

****

It was surprisingly non stinky in the tunnel - Ben wondered if that was because all the spiders were down in the village, rather than up in the volcano. He carefully made his way down the long tunnel, his lightsaber ignited in readiness in case of trouble. His bag felt heavy on his back - which was strange because it was quite empty. Ben thought it must have been the heat that was making him feel heavier than he actually was.

****

The volcano was definitely hotter though, and the thick air made it difficult to breathe. Ben was worried that the earthquake he had felt earlier meant that the orange salt lava was even closer to the surface now. _Really_ worried.

****

The tunnel was eerily quiet, except for a small sound that was coming from the main cavern where he and Rey had encountered all the spiders earlier that day. It was a strange sound, human...but not at the same time. Ben raised his weapon in readiness as he entered the cavern, not sure what he was about to find.

****

To his surprise, it was just one lonely spider in the middle of the large open space. The spider seemed really sad, almost like it was… crying? Ben was very confused - the alien stinky spiders could cry - and had feelings?

****

Sensing that a gentle approach was needed, Ben shut down and holstered his weapon. Hearing it, the spider quickly spun around to see what had made the noise. Looking at the spider head on, Ben could tell that the spider was much larger than the other spiders he had seen, with an even bigger scorpion-like tail. Most strange however, was the crown sitting on top of the spider’s head. Ben thought perhaps this could be the leader he was looking for.

****

“Don’t hurt me,” said the spider sadly. “All my spider children are gone, and I have no way to defend myself against your weapon.”

****

“Dastardly Darth Maul! You… can… talk?” Said Ben in surprise.

****

“Of course I can talk,” said the spider indignantly. “Just because I’m a spider doesn’t mean that I don’t have a brain, you know.”

****

“I’m very sorry, Mr. Spider,” said Ben slowly. “I didn't mean to offend you. I just don’t come across talking spiders all that often.”

****

The spider quickly went from indignant to completely offended. “Mr. Spider! I think you mean Your Majesty! If I had my spider children here, I would instruct all of them to direct the stinkiest stink wave that ever did stink at you!”

****

Ben didn’t want the spider to get so offended that he wouldn’t help them at all.

****

“Your Majesty, my apologies. Please forgive me,” he grovelled. The king spider seemed to relax a little, so Ben decided to press his luck.

****

“Your Majesty, my King, please could you answer me as to why you are crying?” He asked.

****

The king spider took a long, sad sniff before he responded. “The volcano is no longer a safe place for us, we have lived here so peacefully for many hundreds of years since our alien spaceship crashed, so I sent my loyal subjects down to the village to try to make friends. We watched you as you left and rode those strange puppy lizards back down the hill.”

****

Ben was very concerned that the spiders no longer felt the volcano was a safe place to live. Ben was also surprised that King Spider thought that his spider army was being… friendly. 

****

“Those spiders were not friendly,” he said with a shake of his head. “Not friendly at ALL. They made my cousin and all the other children in the village sick - plus it stinks. Really really. So bad,” Ben grimaced at the memory of it.

****

“No, no, no, no,” King Spider replied. “My subjects would never - well - only if they were scared. In any case, once the children ate the candy flowers they would be all well again. How do you think we don’t get sick from the gas ourselves?”

****

Ben stood still for the moment and let what the King Spider said sink in.

****

“Candy…. flowers?”

****

King Spider seemed awfully annoyed, and shook his colourful spider head. “Those foolish spiders, if I have told them once I have told them one thousand times - don’t forget to take the flowers!”

****

It seemed like the candy flowers held the secret Ben had been looking for, now all he had to do was to get his hands on some. Plus - work out what to do about the exploding volcano. He wished that Rey was well again, she knew more about the volcano than anyone. 

****

It occurred to him that he could solve both problems at once.

****

“If you were to show me where these candy flowers were, I will help you with the volcano problem.”

****

King Spider looked at him doubtfully.

****

“Well, not me,” said Ben quickly. “But my cousin Rey, the one that was with me earlier. She’s really sick - but she knows more about the volcano than anyone. If you helped her, I’m sure she will help you too.”

****

King Spider considered what Ben was saying.

****

“Was that the small one from before? That stopped _you_ from turning us all into mincemeat?”

****

“Yes,” muttered Ben. “So, are you going to show me where to find the candy flowers or not?” He said a little louder.

****

“Well - for her I will,” King Spider responded. “Follow me.”

****

King Spider turned around and began to crawl down one of the many tunnels, Ben was confused. How on earth could the candy flowers be this way? He visited the tunnels every single day to check the temperature, so if there were candy flowers he would have been sure to see them.

****

King Spider stopped once he came to a big crystal rock, one that Ben had passed many many times before. The spider rapped on the crystal six times, and to Ben’s surprise, the crystal rock moved to expose a big cave behind it.

****

Ben’s jaw dropped in shock - he had no idea that such a place even existed, much less was one he walked past every single day.

****

King Spider crawled in, waving one of his legs to beckon Ben to come inside as well.

****

As he did, Ben’s jaw hit the ground a little harder. The hidden cave was filled with hundreds and hundreds of candy flowers of all different colours, from blues to pinks and yellows. The scent was also lovely as well, the smell of sugar powder hung in the air and was much, much more pleasant than spider farts.

****

“Take as many as you need,” said King Spider. “They always grow back.”

****

Ben quickly opened up his satchel and began shoving handfuls of flowers inside it. “How do you take the flowers?” He asked, for he had no idea of how the flowers should be administered.

****

“Just place a petal on the person’s tongue and it will dissolve immediately. Then the medicine will work.”

****

“Thank you,” said Ben gratefully. “Now, please let me help you. Come back to the village and we can explain this to everyone, after we make Rey better of course.”

****

King Spider nodded quickly. “Yes, and I always wanted to ride one of those puppy lizards too,” he replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed this please let us know, we would love to hear from you.
> 
> We promise to respond.


	3. Rey to the rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey is all better now, but there is still the problem with that pesky volcano. Can Ben and Rey work together and save the village?

Ben watched anxiously as Dr. Binks placed the candy flower petal on Rey’s tongue. She was still unconscious,very stinky and very green - like all the other children in the village.

“Meesa tink da dis no worka,” Dr. Binks said, his brow furrowed with concern.

King Spider snorted from his position in the corner. 

“You’ll see,” he muttered. “Then you better remove my loyal subjects from that giant force bubble you have them trapped in.”

Han looked at King Spider sharply. “Listen, your royal spiderness,” he said, jabbing his finger into the soft side of the spider. “Your loyal subjects are the reason why we are all here - and why the village stinks like a sarlacc threw up and then ate a rathtar and then pooped the rathtar and then bathed in happabore water. So until all the kids are turned back to normal, the spiders stay in the bubble.”

King Spider raised his scorpion tail as if to blast the room with his stinky gas. But after Han put his hand in his blaster, and Ben ignited his lightsaber, King Spider seemed to think better of it. He lowered his tail and scuttled back into the corner of the room a little further, making his way over bits of machinery and a diorama of the volcano as he went.

The tension was broken by the sound of Rey coughing and spluttering as she regained consciousness. The horrible green pallor had gone, and her eyes were open. 

The room still was stinky, however.

“Bouncing Boba Fett, what happened?” She asked sleepily.

Ben quickly knelt down next to her and smiled. “Hey, little cousin,” he said. “The spiders made you sick, but then I found the king spider and he gave me the antidote to make you better.”

“Oh,” she said quietly, then her eyes suddenly grew wide in panic. “The spiders,” she said, gripping Ben’s arm. “Are they ok?”

“Shhh, yes, they are fine,” Ben said soothingly. “Your father has them suspended in a giant force bubble above the city, until all the children have recovered from the stinky gas.”

She settled back into the bed at the news. “Well, I’m better - can we make the other children better too now… please?”

Ben smiled and looked at Han. “Sure kid,” he said. “Let’s do that.”

The word quickly got around that the Skywalker hut had a candy flower cure, and parents were lined up around the corner to collect a petal to give to their children. In no time at all, all the children in the village were better, and only just a little bit more stinky than usual. 

Only after each child had received the petal medicine, did Luke carefully lower the giant force bubble which contained the giant spiders down to the ground.

Once the force bubble had been burst, all the spiders rushed to their spider king, crawling all over him as he gave each of them a kiss and a cuddle. They squealed their story to him, of being trapped in the horrible stinky bubble with all their brothers and sisters. King Spider softly stroked them with his legs, eight spiders at a time, to help them feel better.

By now, Rey was well enough to walk again, and as soon as her father saw her, he scooped her up in a warm embrace, clearly relieved that she was better.

“Dad!” she yelled, part happy and part embarrassed. 

King Spider, done with petting his subjects for the time being, scuttled over to Rey to speak to her.

“So, the big guy over here tells me you can fix the volcano problem,” he said, jerking his head towards Ben.

“He did?” Rey said, with a big smile. “I can! I’ve been reading about the power of kyber crystals, and I think, if we mixed them with some magic glitter glue and some force bubble drips that we could block the volcano from erupting!” Rey was finally getting to share her idea, now that it seemed the grown ups would listen.

Luke looked confused. “What are you talking about? Kyber crystals can’t stop volcanoes!”

“Uncle Luke, hear her out - you know Rey knows more about the volcano than anyone,” Ben said in defence of his cousin.

“Kid, how do you know it will work?” asked Han with a smirk.

“Well, the magic glitter glue will make anything it touches turn into a rainbow - but that’s not enough. So we need the force bubble drops to block the volcano from erupting - to keep the salt lava in place. But that’s not enough either!” Rey said excitedly, finally happy someone was listening to her. 

Ben’s eyes suddenly lit up as he understood where Rey was headed.

“The kyber crystals…” he said.

“Yes,” said Rey with a big smile. “We need to use the kyber crystals to give the potion energy to go through all the salt in the volcano. I might add in a peanut butter sandwich - in case the volcano is just hungry too.”

“Honey, all the crystals in the village are being used in lightsabers,” Luke asked. “So, we can’t use them to make a potion, unless one of us is willing to give it up.”

Rey, Luke and Ben all put their hands protectively over their holstered weapons - no one wanted to give up their lightsabers.

“Well…..” said Han a little sheepishly. “Maybe not _all_ the kyber crystals.”

“Han!” Luke turned to face his brother in law. “You have a _kyber crystal_?” Luke said sharply.

“Don’t ask - just thank me,” said Han firmly with a shake of his head. 

Just then, a massive rumble coming from deep in the ground could be felt underneath them. They all looked up at the volcano that was now steaming and spluttering salt high up in the air.

“The volcano is our home,” said King Spider sadly. “If we don’t have the volcano, because it becomes a rainbow salt one, then where will we live?”

The humans all looked at each other, wondering what the solution could be.

“Well…” said Luke. “We could make you a spider village, near this one. It seems that Ben will have some spare time on his hands, because if Rey’s plan works then we won’t need a Head Volcano Temperature Tester anymore, so he could build it for you.”

Ben grimaced a little, but at least his new job would mean he wouldn’t have to visit the volcano anymore. Plus, he liked to use his hands.

King Spider tipped his head to one side, deep in thought.

“Yes… that might do nicely,” he nodded.

“But,” said Luke seriously. “No stinky gas, keep your spiders fart free - or we will send you back to the volcano and throw you in. Rainbow or no rainbow.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” King Spider nodded. “No farts, ever. Hear that kids?”

The spider children waved their green and purple legs in agreement.

“Good, then its sorted. Rey, get to work on your potion,” Luke instructed. “Han, go get that crystal… and we will talk about that later,” he looked very sternly at Han. Ben was glad that for once he was not the one in trouble. “Then Han and I will protect the village in case the salt lava comes down this way.”

“I’ll go get Muddy and Fluffy ready,” said Ben.

Rey looked at him in surprise. “You mean you are coming with me?”

“Sure, Rey. I couldn’t let my favourite cousin face the volcano without me. Plus, for the next hour or so I’m still the Head Volcano Temperature Tester.”

Rey looked at him, her face scrunched up in displeasure, her hands suddenly on her hips in defiance.

“Fine, fine, fine,” Ben said, he knew he couldn’t win this battle. “You can be the Head Volcano Temperature Tester, I will be Assistant Volcano Temperature Tester.”

This seemed to make her happy. “Good, now everyone - let’s get to work. King Spider, do you want to come too?”

“Yes, I want to get the photo albums and first footprints for all my babies.” King Spider said.

“No, King Spider, that’s at least 8000 footprints and there’s no time. Come and be helpful, or don’t come at all.”

King Spider sniffed. “Young people have no respect for royalty these days,” he muttered, but scuttled along behind Rey nonetheless.

_________

Back in Rey’s room, she made quick work of pulling the potion together, mixing the magic glitter glue and popped force bubble mixture together. She giggled as she made the tiny force bubbles, then popped and caught the mixture in her hands, then let it drop into the large bottle she was using to store the mixture.

She smiled as Han entered the room, a pink kyber crystal in his outstretched hand. Her eyes lit up at the idea of swapping her blue kyber crystal for the pink one, but she also knew that there was no time for her to do it, given the volcano was about to explode at any moment.

The ground was rumbling even more by now, and she knew she had to work fast.

She quickly bashed the pink crystal with the handle of her lightsaber, causing pink sparks to fly all over the room. Han yelped and quickly dove out the door to escape the mini explosions caused by Rey’s banging, but Rey just laughed as the sparks singed her hair. King Spider hid under a pile of clothes, shaking.

Once the pink crystal had been turned into powder, Rey quickly scooped up the powder and let it drop into the mixture. She quickly put the stopper in the bottle and jumped up off the floor.

“Let’s go! C3PO, sandwich me!” she said, bolting out the door, with King Spider hanging onto her backpack. She deftly caught the peanut butter sandwich C3PO had made for her, and stuck it into her pocket. Han picked himself up off the floor in the hallway and followed her.

As Rey entered the stables, she was suddenly bowled over by two thousand pounds of excited pet varactyl. 

Muddy wiggled and squirmed in happiness to see her Master. Muddy had been so worried about Rey the whole day, and was overjoyed to see Rey up and about and looking well again.

Rey giggled in delight to see her pet, too. “Muddy!” she squealed, then she caught Ben’s stern gaze. “There will be time for playing later. We need to get up to the volcano quickly,” she said, correcting herself. Now that she was the Head Volcano Temperature Tester, she really needed to show responsibility. 

Muddy quieted down at her serious tone, only shaking her butt just a little as Rey hopped into the saddle, placing the potion inside the pocket. Ben was already sitting astride Fluffy, who was also keen to go.

“After you,” said Ben with a smile.

Rey beamed, gave Muddy a small kick with her heels, and they were off, up to the mouth of the volcano, with Ben not far behind.

This time, they weren’t in competition with each other, they were working as a team. Because even though they were both good force users, going up against an angry volcano was still a big task - and they would definitely need to work together.

As they got closer and closer to the volcano, they could see just how angry it was. Orange salt was beginning to spurt from the top and trickle down the rocky sides. Ben and Rey looked at each other nervously. It was going to be more difficult than they thought.

There was no way the varactyls were going to make it up to the top, and they might burn their webbed feet in any case. Therefore, the only way they could get to the top of the volcano was by using a force bubble. Neither of them had tried to lift themselves up that high before.

“Do you think we can make it?” Rey said worriedly as she adjusted her backpack and placed the potion bottle in her other pocket.

“If we do it together we can,” said Ben.

No force user had ever tried to join force bubbles with another force user before, but there was no time to waste. 

Rey nodded in agreement, and they both created force bubbles around themselves.

“So, how are we going to do it?” Rey asked.

“Stand still, don’t move,” said Ben.

Rey’s eyes grew wide. “Ben.. what are you thinking?”

“Don’t move,” he warned her again, then with a quick sprint he took a flying leap at Rey’s force bond bubble. The sight of her tree trunk of a cousin coming at her made her want to duck for cover, but she made herself stand still as instructed.

As he flew through the air, their force bubbles collided, merging into one, with Ben deftly falling next to Rey in the bubble. She let go a big sigh of relief as it looked like his plan had worked.

“Let’s float!” Ben shouted, as the bubble began to rise up the side of the volcano. It seemed much faster and sturdier, using a force bubble than a varactyl, but not quite as much fun.

They soon found themselves floating up high above the volcano, the force bubble protecting them from the orange salt lava that was erupting from it. Luckily, the force bubble also protected them from the radiant heat as well.

There was just one problem, they needed the force bubble to remain up in the air, but in order to spread the potion, they would have to remove the force bubble. Ben chewed his lip deep in thought over how they could solve the problem.

“I don’t know how we are going to do this,” said Rey. “If we lose the force bubble we will surely fall to our doom!”

“I know,” agreed Ben. He was stuck for ideas as well.

“Might I make a suggestion?” came another voice from Rey’s backpack. In all the commotion, they had both forgotten that King Spider was still gripping onto her bag for dear life.

“It may have slipped your mind that I am, in fact, a spider. A spider who makes very lovely, very big webs that are proven to have withstood the toughest salt lava for hundreds of years. Perhaps we could pop this bubble, and then I could quickly spin a web to catch us?”

“But I haven’t seen any spider webs down in the tunnels ever.” Ben was confused. The idea seemed like a good one, but he still wasn’t sure of it could work.

Rey was the same. “King Spider, Ben’s right - where is the proof?”

“We may be arachnids, but we certainly do not go around leaving our webs laying around willy nilly, they were deeper into the tunnel system. Look, the lava is getting higher!” King Spider shrieked. “Just trust me!”

Ben and Rey looked at each other, and there didn’t seem to be any other alternative.

“I’ll shake the bottle across the lava, you pop the force bubble.” Rey said.

“Good thinking,” Ben agreed. “On the count of three. One, two, three!”

She already had the peanut butter clenched into her hand, and Rey ripped off the lid of the potion bottle at the same time that Ben popped the force bubble. King Spider sent a rainbow coloured web jetting out of his scorpion tail. The sandwich was quickly eaten up by the lava, and as soon as the potion touched the salty swell, it suddenly transformed into a beautiful smooth candy shell, that was ribboned with rainbow colours that glittered in the light of the sun. All the heat immediately disappeared, and the three of them knew that the village and themselves were safe from the volcano once again.

King Spider’s web formed a gigantic trampoline, which cushioned them so they didn’t hurt their butts on the hardened candy lava. The three of them began to bounce high up in the air, laughing for joy - both from the relief of having saved the village and from the fun of bouncing on a gigantic spider web trampoline that was positioned above a candy rainbow volcano. 

Their bouncing began to subside, and the three of them finally came to rest on the makeshift net. 

“We did it!” cried Ben and Rey as they gave each other a hug.

“I did it too! Your brains would be rainbow jelly if it wasn’t for me!” said King Spider, more than just a little miffed that he hadn’t been included in the cuddle too.

“Come here, Your Majesty,” laughed Ben, as he grabbed the spider’s leg to drag him into the embrace. King Spider was right, if it wasn’t for him, they would have been able to save the village, but they would not have been able to save themselves.

________________

Back at the village, a crowd had gathered to welcome Ben, Rey and King Spider home. Fluffy and Muddy pranced proudly as they entered the village square, thinking perhaps the fanfare was for them.

Everyone cheered, especially when Luke used the force to lift the three of them up into the air. 

Ben and Rey felt so proud of what they had done. They had faced their fears, saved the village, made friends with a bunch of spiders and turned scary orange salt lava into lovely rainbow candy - plus worked out that they made a fantastic team.

Even the village council seemed happy, which was very rare, and something that not even Luke could remember having happened in his lifetime.

The village celebrated into the weekend with a big party, with cheezels, balloons, bubble wands and a huge rainbow ice cream cake. 

On Monday, Ben and Rey started to build the spider village, as promised. After a vote, it was decided that the spider village would be painted into rainbow colours, to match the volcano and the spiders themselves, who were really very colourful.

The villagers did have to plant a field of candy flowers, though. Because while the spiders did their best not to be stinky, the village children however could not be trusted, and they liked to frighten the spiders to make their friends pass out, or to blame them for farting. 

Muddy eventually forgave the spiders for making Rey sick, even going so far as to give the little baby spiders horsey rides on her back. So - she became very popular.

Rey also had lots of fun with the spiders too, although she was never able to win at tickle fights, or juggling competitions. But it was still lots of fun all the same. She also loved force bubbling her way up to the top of the volcano, to slip and slide on the shiny candy surface like it was a delicious sugary ice skating rink. She was sad that she never got to use the pink kyber crystal in her lightsaber, but at the same time, the new and improved volcano was lots of fun too.

As for Ben, well, he no longer had his (not so) boring job as Head Volcano Temperature Tester. So, now he had all the time in the world to hang down the river with his friends, watch the Holonet, ride Fluffy up into the hills and practice lightsaber duels with Rey. He and King Spider would play cards sometimes too - although the spider usually liked to cheat. 

It made Ben very very happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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**Author's Note:**

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